fiber sheep
Shetland sheep for fiber
It is with a heavy heart that we report that our sheep were recently killed by a Mountain Lion. We worked with Living with Lions (an amazing organization, working in the intersection of wild and domesticated animals; look them up!) to try to capture the Lion for collaring and tracking purposes. They set a live trap that same evening, but alas the Lion was not fooled: she checked it out but did not venture inside (see photos below).
It was humbling to be reminded of what close proximity we share these wild and domestic lands, and though we are saddened by the loss of our sweet sheep, we are grateful to know there is still such wildness so close to home. We are grateful to our friend Max for taking in the one lone surviving sheep, to mix in with his flock, and grateful to our friend Russell for helping process the killed sheep to make use of their hides and meat.
Once we have some more capacity to design a better, safer system, we look forward to acquiring more sheep in the future. They are so wonderfully sweet to spend time with, and so useful to the landscape: rotationally grazing with electric netting through our cropland to graze down covercrop, keep pathways between vineyard rows maintained, and awkward to reach steep hillsides mowed down.
We still have a pile of wool to bring to the wool mill; stay tuned for roving and yarn for sale in the Green Valley Marketplace!
